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Constitutional Law Keyed to Shanor
Geier v. American Honda Motor Company
Citation:
529 U.S. 861 (2000)Facts
The 1984 version of a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard promulgated by the Department of Transportation under the authority of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 required auto manufacturers to equip some but not all of their 1987 vehicles with passive restraints airbags. It is argued that the Act preempts a state common-law tort action in which the plaintiff claims that the defendant auto manufacturer, who was in compliance with the standard, should nonetheless have equipped a 1987 automobile with airbags. Alexis Geier, while driving a 1987 Honda Accord equipped with manual shoulder and lap belts which Geier had buckled, collided with a tree and was seriously injured. Geier sued in tort, claiming American Honda had designed the car negligently and defectively by not providing a driver’s side airbag.
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